BBC ON THIS DAY | 24 | 1991: Giant of rock dies 1991: Giant of rock dies Freddie Mercury has died aged 45, just one day after he publicly announced he was HIV positive. The lead singer for rock group Queen died quietly at his home in west London of bronchio-pneumonia, brought on by Aids, his publicist said. The flamboyant star is thought to have had the disease for two years, but he continued to make music and the decline in his health was only rarely glimpsed. Mercury was born Farookh Bulsara in Zanzibar in 1946 and spent most of his childhood in India before his family settled in England in 1964. That year he enrolled in art school. Freddie Mercury, Roger Taylor, Brian May and Mike Grose formed Queen in 1970. Regarded by fans and critics alike as a consummate showman, Mercury was openly bisexual and enjoyed a colourful rock-star lifestyle.

A great personality Music critic Paul Gambaccini Tributes from all over the world have been pouring in for the man who stole the show at Live Aid and wrote ground-breaking hits like Bohemian Rhapsody - which was number one in the UK for nine weeks. Music critic Paul Gambaccini praised Mercury for his huge contribution to hard rock music. "He gave a form which was pretty staid and sour, a great personality," he said. The director of an Aids education charity, Dr Patrick Dixon, told the BBC that Mercury's greatest gift to his fans was admitting he was suffering from the disease. "His hope was no doubt that through his openness many people throughout the world would see that Aids is a real illness - that it's killing people every day," said Dr Dixon.

25 Years Ago: The Day Freddie Mercury Died 25 Years Ago: The Day Freddie Mercury Died By Nick DeRiso November 24, 2015 9:00 AM REDDIT Hulton Archive / Getty Images Freddie Mercury was the face of Queen’s wildly popular mixture of hard rock, pop, cabaret, glam and opera in the ’70s, before becoming one the the AIDS virus’ most well-known casualties in the ’90s. He died on Nov. 24, 1991, just two days after confirming rumors that he had the disease. At Queen’s zenith, Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon forged a completely new hybrid that centered on Mercury’s brand of impish decadence, one that ultimately became bound up in the mythology of his early passing, as well. But the group, and Mercury, was always more than the sum of its out-sized bacchanalia. Queen’s signature creative moment was also Mercury’s, as he layered his own voice into a choir for “ Bohemian Rhapsody ,” a painstaking process in the days of reel-to-reel tape.

Over the years, Mercury also wrote “Killer Queen,” “Somebody to Love,” “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and “We Are the Champions” for Queen, while issuing a well-received solo reinterpretation of the Platters’ “The Great Pretender” in 1987. Along the way, the band’s unique musical alchemy, not to mention those elaborate studio concoctions, set the standard for a series of suitably far-flung bands: Journey swiped Queen producer Roy Thomas Baker for its first albums with Steve Perry , while Styx would borrow heavily from Mercury’s knack for Broadway prog. Neo-classical heavy metal artists like Yngwie Malmsteen consistently referenced the band’s crunchy rock template, while Metallica went so far as to record their own version of Queen’s “Stone Cold Crazy.” There are countless others. None of them, however, could approach Mercury’s unique on-stage presence, confirmed all over again after their hit-making days were largely over when Queen galvanized fans worldwide as part of the Live Aid concerts. Born Frederick Bulsara in Zanzibar to a government accountant, Mercury died of bronchopneumonia resulting from AIDS just six years later.

Mary Austin, Mercury’s one-time partner and life-long friend, has faithfully followed the singer’s wishes and kept the whereabouts of his ashes a secret — even from his parents. Mercury continued recording until not long before his death, losing none of his vocal power, even as his body began to noticeably waste away. While working on “The Show Must Go On” in 1990, May questioned whether Mercury was well enough to continue. “And he went, ‘I’ll f—ing do it, darling’ — vodka down — and went in and killed it,” May remembered. “Completely lacerated that vocal.” Enough sessions work was left over, in fact, for a huge-selling posthumous release; 1995’s Made in Heaven would go four-times platinum in the U.K. Austin also received both Mercury’s opulent Edwardian mansion, located in West London, and the bulk of his fortune. May and Taylor, meanwhile, have continued on as Queen with a series of guest singers, including George Michael, Paul Rodgers and — most recently — American Idol finalist Adam Lambert . They also established the Mercury Phoenix Trust in 1992 in memory of Mercury, raising awareness and funds as part of the fight against AIDS.

See Queen and Other Rockers in the Top 100 Albums of the ’70s Image of Queen Interviews - Freddie Mercury - 11-25-1991 - The Star - AIDS Kills The King of Rock - Queen Archives: Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, John Deacon, Interviews, Articles, Reviews Articles > Freddie Mercury Articles > 11-25-1991 - The Star - AIDS Kills The King of Rock Music world is in mourning for Queen's superstar singer Freddie Mercury: The Last Tragic Hours Tragic rock star Freddie Mercury finally lost his agonising two-year battle against AIDS last night. He died at his £4million London home a gaunt shadow of the flamboyant singer who had taken the pop world by storm. Freddie, 45 had confessed at the weekend that the years of one-night stands had finally caught up with and that he was HIV positive. The final curtain was one the Queen singer had long feared. He was a self-confessed bi-sexual and three of his former gay lovers had died of AIDS, It was a lonely end for Freddie, who always claimed to be one of the loneliest men in the world.

The whole rock world was in mourning last night over the loss of a true superstar. Freddie's Nightmare 'Loneliest' man found happiness with Mary Pop legend Freddie Mercury last night paid the tragic price for a hell-raising life of sex, drugs and rock and roll. After 20 years of shameless bed-hopping the self-confessed bi-sexual passed peacefully away at his £4million London Home. Three of his former gay lovers had died of the disease in the past six years. Shocked , he told friends he would change his sex life to stop him catching it. Safe sex, he said, was possible, "But you can't expect to give up sex for ever." Ironically the 45-year-old millionaire had claimed for years he was one of the loneliest men in the world. And when the curtain came down yesterday, sadly he was. Freddie, the outrageous showman, had three real loves in his life - sex, music and ONE special woman. The sex was mostly one-night stands with a string of gay men all over the globe. Roulette They never loved the real Freddie Mercury, he said. They were only in love with his fame.

Once he told a close friend "Love is like Russian Roulette for me, I've tried either side - male and female - but all of them have gone wrong. The one-night stands are just me playing a part. I can be a good lover but after all these years I'm not a good partner for anybody." "Maybe my love is dangerous - but who wants their love to be safe." He was never bitter about the men. He always gave them a Cartier watch by which to remember their night of passion with the famous Freddie Mercury. Of the three gay lovers who died of AIDS, two were very close to him. Tony Bastin, from Brighton, who died before Christmas 1986, aged 35 had a two-year affair with him. And Dubliner Paul Prenter, his personal assistant for nine years had an on-off sexual relationship with the Queen star. Turmoil The pair split up when Paul spilled the beans on their affair. A furious Mercury fumed at the time: "I've felt betrayed and let down many times, I just grit my teeth, bite my tongue and say damn them. But I'm a softie, a peach.

I'm not a person to bear a grudge." Tragically to Freddie's horror, Prenter died last August. Women also gave the superstar sleepless nights. For the past 16 years, blonde Mary Austin caused Freddie deep emotional turmoil and heartbreak. They met in the early '70's as Freddie was shopping. He later said: Mary is my only friend in the world." within days they moved into a flat in London's Holland Park. Their love blossomed for seven years and they even considered getting married. "The sex was good." Freddie said. "The only thing that got Mary mad was when he would jump up in the middle of the night to write lyrics. Split Mary quit her day job to become his personal assistant. She traveled the world with his group, Queen, booking their hotels and limousines. In 1982 they split up but remained good friends. Freddie bought her a £400,000 four bed-roomed flat in Kensington, near his Edwardian home. When Freddie dabbled in hard drugs like LSD and Heroin, Mary helped him kick the habit.

And two years later, when the romance was rekindled, she asked Freddie to give her a child Freddie responded by making her the sole heir to his massive fortune in his will but told her: "I'd rather have another cat." Friends said that Mary was deeply hurt by his gay flings. But she tolerated them rather than lose him altogether. Freddie said recently: "Ours is a pure friendship but friendship of the highest standard. It's an instinctive thing. I still love her. We'll probably grow old together." Mary now has a young son, Richard, by another lover. Freddie was the child's godfather. She is expecting another. His other women were fast and furious. They included Barbara Valentine, former Drifters singer Fay Treadwell, Mary Martin and Jo Burt. Market boy who became a megastar Freddie was earning pocket money on an antique market stall in London to boost his student grant when he was asked to join Brian May's band in 1969. It was just for kicks in those days. Homework came first.

Freddie got a diploma in design and art at Ealing College, Brian May got a PhD in Astronomy and a BSc in Physics, Taylor Secured a degree in Biology and Deacon qualified as an electronics engineer. The band's first gig was at Finsbury Park. Within four years they were zooming up the charts with hits like Killer Queen, Seven Seas of Rhye and We Will Rock You. Cult But it was Bohemian Rhapsody that really made them. Freddie became a cult hero. With his tight leotards and leopard skin costumes he was a dazzling, energetic lead singer the fans adored. Since their first hit single in the early 70s they have sold a staggering 80 million records worldwide. Freddie once said: "At the start I knew we were going to be huge - and we were." The king of Queen is gone - but his memory will live on. An Antique Load Show. Freddie's motto was spend, spend, spend. He lavished megabucks on antiques. Friends say he spent £2million building up a collection of Impressionist paintings, Japanese wood carvings and French furniture.

He said: "All my money goes to Sotheby's." Once Freddie forked out £250,000 on a 144 piece antique dinner set. He told friends. "I'd like to be buried with all my treasures just like the pharaohs. If I could afford it I'd have a pyramid built in Kensington." CAROLINE PHILLIPS - CASE STUDY Did I infect Freddie? Who knows? JIM Hutton was the husband' of the late Freddie Mercury for seven years before the legendary Queen singer died of Aids in 1991. Jim is talking about their marriage', being diagnosed as HIV positive four years ago, his book Mercury and Me, about watching Freddie die and being evicted from the £4 million mansion that Freddie left to his former lover Mary Austin - according to Jim, on condition that he could remain there. Jim, who is nervous and uses his humour defensively, has bounded into the Hyde Park Hotel making jokes about putting the chandelier in his handbag. He has a rubicund face, moustache, angry eyes and receding black hair.

Gone is the high clone look (white vest and jeans), replaced by a cheap looking tie and aquamarine jacket. He must have made an unlikely partner with the outrageous pop star. If you saw him in the street you'd imagine he was a suburban publican. He and Freddie first met in a gay nightclub in 1983. Freddie was slight and not the sort of man I found attractive,' wrote Jim, a hairdresser living in a rented attic. Then he re-met Freddie Thing', as he called him, claiming not to have known who he was. Freddie promptly ravaged him. When he got the urge for sex, there was no stopping him.' Jim moved into Garden Lodge and became Freddie's gardener. Jim, with his Irish accent, recalls their relationship. I wanted to give him a black eye a few times. But we gave each other love. We didn't have fisticuffs, just verbal fights. Then he'd give me the silent treatment - the last time it lasted over a week. The night before Valentine's Day, we had a big fight - I don't know why - and he was giving me the silent treatment.

I got him three dozen blue moon roses. I took them to him in bed where he was with his cup of tea and two doughnuts - one for him and one for his cat, Delilah. He just grunted.' They were, admits Jim, very different. Freddie was sensitive, shy, had terrible mood swings and wanted his own way. I'm quiet and don't have much of a character,' Jim laughs, unless you pour a few gallons of beer down me.' He remembers happy times too. Once in Germany Freddie jumped into my arms in broad daylight, in public, in a veg market of all places!' He looks embarrassed. Then came Live Aid, the first concert Jim had ever attended. To see Freddie up there controlling that crowd ... Tears welled up and the hairs on my neck stood on end.' Did they ever actually marry? Good God no. We weren't that daft.' Jim, the Irish Catholic son of a baker and seventh of 10 children, was brought up in a council house and left school aged 16. He claims he wasn't impressed by Freddie, who generated over £1 billion worth of sales.

Freddie dealt with his fame simply. He'd give an audience his all and afterwards he'd usually go straight home and sit in front of the television.' Jim claims he never saw any outrageous behaviour. And we never discussed anything that had gone on before we met. Not previous boyfriends, childhood, nothing.' And drugs? He wasn't snorting cocaine every night,' says Jim, defensively. He'd have gone bankrupt if he had.' Then Freddie told him he had full blown Aids. Curiously they never mentioned the subject again. It was his cross and he wanted to carry it the way he chose - without burdening me. If something came up on TV to do with Aids, we'd turn channels.' Was Freddie ashamed of having contracted it? No, just annoyed. He said there's such a stigma attached to this'.' JIM then had a test in 1990 and found he was HIV positive. When I heard, I just said oh well'. That sounds flippant, but there's nothing you can do. I didn't tell Freddie, he had enough to deal with.

I coped by going crazy in the garden, going haywire on weeding.' Did he infect Freddie? Who knows?' Later Jim had a second test and Freddie heard the result. He was lying on the couch and all he said was, the bastards'.' What was it like watching Freddie die? Indescribable.' In the book, Jim writes about the star's deteriorating health, ending sexual relations, watching him suffer, Freddie's last words (pee pee') and how, as they lowered him back onto his bed, there was a deafening crack. It sounded like one of his bones breaking ... he screamed out in pain and went into a convulsion. When he died, I went into my bedroom, phoned my mother and cracked up. She couldn't understand a word, I was crying so much.' The funeral, Jim says, was a haze. I kept saying, He's not really dead'.' It was also the first time Mary, with whom Freddie had once lived for six years, snubbed Jim. She said she didn't want me in the first car.' Afterwards he went home.

I picked up every video and CD of Freddie, played them for five hours a day for a week and cried.' After Freddie's death, Mary had Jim evicted abruptly from Garden Lodge. Was there jealousy between these two, Freddie's ex-lovers? I suppose if I were another woman I might have felt that. Mary loved Freddie, but, I'm sorry, Freddie didn't reciprocate.' Does he feel betrayed that Freddie only left him £500,000? No, I feel betrayed by the people he left in charge of carrying out his wishes.' Jim and Mary no longer talk. Now Jim has a new special relationship' (nobody famous, this time). I didn't feel, Oh I've got to wait a year after Freddie's died before I can start playing the field again.' But I don't have sex any more (because of being HIV). I don't miss it. I never was very highly charged sexually.' Nor, he claims, does he think about getting full-blown Aids. I've got to get on with life.

I can't just sit there moaning how long have I got to live?'' 10 Things You Never Knew About Freddie Mercury | Features | Clash Magazine 10 Things You Never Knew About Freddie Mercury On the anniversary of his death Admin 10 Things You Never Knew About Freddie Mercury Admin / / 24 · 11 · 2010 0 On the anniversary of the Queen singer's death in 1991, Clash presents 10 things you never knew about Freddie Mercury. - - - Queen, 'Bohemian Rhapsody' - - - As the flamboyant front man of Queen , Freddie Mercury toyed with hedonism amidst making timeless songs, which leaves plenty ammunition for these little tidbits... Even his official passport read ‘Frederick Mercury’, despite the fact that his birth name was Farrokh Bulsara. Calling him anything but Freddie would not be well received, however - he started using the name ‘Freddie’ prior to ever arriving in England, and ‘Mercury’ when Queen first started. Mercury didn’t consider himself a particularly great pianist.

As a result, he always dreaded performing ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (video above) in concert because he worried he would mess up on the piano in the process. In future years, he started using the piano less on albums so he would be free to dance and run wildly during concerts. In the final scene of Queen’s ‘It’s A Hard Life’ video, when Freddie sits down on the steps, he does so very gingerly, favouring one side over the other. At the time of filming, he had only just had a plaster cast removed, a souvenir after drunken horseplay went awry one night in the New York bar in Munich. Mercury was always in his best form at concerts after emotional conflict. Before a show at the Milton Keynes Bowl, Mercury got into a massive argument with his current beau, Bill Reid, that culminated with Reid biting Mercury’s hand so hard that it left teeth marks and bled profusely. Another fight left their hotel room with a layer of broken glass and plaster on the carpet.

In another incident with Reid, the two of them yelled at each other for so many hours that Mercury woke up completely hoarse on the day that Queen was scheduled to perform live on Saturday Night Live, a hugely popular variety show in the USA. The entire day was spent trying remedies to get his voice back, which he was only barely able to do in time. After boarding a flight to New York from Tokyo one day, Mercury discovered the plane was a DC10, a model that had had some problems in the past. “DC death more like!” Mercury remarked, before immediately gathering his things, exiting the plane, and taking the only available seat on the next flight 14 hours later - economy, as opposed to his first class seat on the DC10. When Mercury was on tour in the United States, he found out the man he was seeing, Tony Bastin, had been seen out with someone else. For revenge, Mercury paid for Bastin to fly out to see him in the US under the pretense of visiting. Mercury met him immediately after his arrival, told him it was over and then put him on the next plane back to London that day. Mercury also kept Bastin’s cat, Oscar.

Mercury loved his cats, so much so that while on tour he would periodically call home to talk to them. His one-time girlfriend and long-time close friend Mary Austin would hold the cats up to the phone so they could listen to him speak. He also had portraits painted of them. Mercury’s assistants were required to have a pen and paper on them at all times in case inspiration hit unexpectedly. Lyrics for ‘Life Is Real’ were started suddenly while flying over the Atlantic from New York, with what is now the classic line “guilt stains on my pillow” originally taken down as “c*nt stains on my pillow”. A recreation of the statue created to honour Mercury, found on Lake Geneva in Montreaux, Switzerland, stands on top of the Dominion Theatre, just down Oxford Street from (the then) Clash HQ. - - - Freddie Mercury's HIV Diagnosis – Some Insight – 1985 to 1987 Posted: 02 Oct 11, 06:27 I was reading somewhere on QZ,,, someone asking about when Freddie knew he had HIV... I can tell you that back in the 1980's,a lot less was known about HIV than we know about today.

Back then,you didn't get 1 test and that was it, you had AIDS. Doctors weren't sure. It usually took multiple tests for a doctor to tell you most certainly that you had the HIV virus in your blood. Up until 1985, tests hadn't been widely available to test for the virus. Up until then, people generally didn't know they had the virus until they were becoming ill and showing serious opportunistic infections. Doctors generally made an AIDS diagnosis based on the patients helper T-Cell level – or lack of them. So it was hard for a doctor to tell someone who wasn't sick that they had HIV virus – the first tests just weren't that accurate. We will never know exactly when Freddie Mercury first discovered or even suspected something was up with his health. Fortunately, some of us have friends who know things about people, and some of those people's medical records can be accessed years later...So I will tell you a little story ;) Did Freddie know he had HIV 1984? Most probably not... In 1984 there was a test in the primary stages of deployment called the ELISA test & it was being developed to screen out HIV from the blood supply.

It was highly sensitive, and very nonspecific, which means it gave a positive result easily even when, in some cases, there is actually no HIV present. It is very unlikely the Freddie's GP would have a offered up his blood to the testing labs in Paris. So, based on the fact that Freddie was still healthy and hadn't changed any of his behaviour by 1984, I don't think he had any real inkling that he was infected. 1985 - Looking at the events - this was the year alarm bells started to ring for Freddie. Firstly, this was the year that the ELISA test had become more accessible and available for doctors in the UK (and the rest of Western Europe) to test their patients for the possibility of HIV turning up in their blood. Freddie was still healthy at this time, or at least he was not showing serious opportunistic infections. But he may very well have had some of the tell-tail signs of HIV infection that doctors in the mid-80's began to recognize as precursors for a person who had the virus, but who had not yet developed full blown AIDS.

Some of these initial symptoms are swollen lymphnodes throughout the body, night sweats, and a mild to moderate general malaise. Freddie may have mentioned something to his doctor at one of his checkups - or his doctor may have had his blood tested for HIV along with other possible diseases that were routine for sexually active gay men. If an ELISA HIV test would have come back positive in 1985, Freddie's doctor would have told him, but would also have told him of the high possibility of a 'false positive' result - and would have requested him to do a second, third, or fourth follow-up test. October 2nd, 1985 – Rock Hudson dies from AIDS. It is strange that toward the fall of 1985, Freddie suddenly left Munich and returned to London. Some may say it was because he was ready to settle down at Garden Lodge. But I know that when Freddie did leave Munich toward the end of 1985 - it was for good, it was sudden and unexpected, and it was a life altering move. Something had changed him.

He had abruptly cut off some of his closest friends from that city – Kurt (died from AIDS), Winnie K (died from AIDS), & Barbara Valentin (to name a few) without even returning their phone calls or offering any real explanation for the sudden and drastic departure. Gone too were his one night stands, recreational cocaine/ecstasy use, and clubbing he had partaken in Munich (and elsewhere throughout the previous years. Another person that was suddenly out of the picture...Paul Prenter. Paul had been employed under Freddie/Queen since the mid-70's and had worked for Queen as recently as the Live Aid concert in July of that year. He was, in many respects, Freddie's sexual liason when Queen were on tour. If you wanted to get to Freddie in a club, you had to go through Paul. Paul, an Irishman, was tough and cheeky. He was someone who specifically knew Freddie's sexual tastes and became Freddie's go between for fishing out anyone Freddie particularly fancied at a club, but didn't want to bother with the negotiating of a possible tryst.

All I know is that something must have happened to Freddie in late 1985 that made him ditch Paul Prenter and the party boys at the nightclubs in Munich and retreat to Garden Lodge. Could it have been a doctor telling him that he may have the dreaded and deadly diagnosis that was going to kill him? 1986 - is where the crap really begins to hit the fan. It was in 1986 that insurance companies began screening their clients for HIV. You can bet that all the members of Queen would have taken out insurance to cover a whole gauntlet of possible liabilities that may arise in the face of a disaster while on tour. Freddie, most likely, under the guidance of Jim Beach, took out a policy that would cover expenses if Queen were unable to take the stage at, let's say, Wembley Stadium, because Freddie lost his voice due to a health issue. Health insurance is essential for singers who earn their living from their instrument. Cover for touring abroad, loss of voice, accidental injury, engagement cancellations and loss of earnings will protect the singer if they are unable to perform due to illness or other unforeseen events.

In 1984, the last time Queen started a tour, the ELISA HIV test had not been available to Insurance Companies for the screening of their clients for HIV. You can bet that any insurer willing to cover a voice like Freddie Mercury's on a Stadium Tour across Europe would want to know every little detail of their subject's health and the possibility of having to pay thousands or even millions of pounds due to a tour or concert cancellation if Freddie became ill. It is almost a certainty that before the beginning of the Magic Tour, Freddie, whose liability would have been greatest in the band, would have been tested for many diseases (Now including HIV) and would have found out that he was positive for the virus. No insurance company in their right mind would offer coverage to a person with HIV - especially in 1986 when AIDS was a death sentence. We all know Freddie decided to do the tour -even though he would have been aware of the gamble: if he suddenly became ill or lost his voice (like in Sun City, 1984) - he would be screwed financially! His behaviour on the tour seems to back up this theory. The other band members noticed that something was up with him. He wasn't out partying anymore.

Paul Prenter wasn't hired for the tour. (Paul Prenter also died of AIDS in 1991) Freddie knew that this tour would be the last one! Even though my above 'theory' would have a doctor telling Freddie that he had tested positive for HIV in late 1985 or early 1986, that doctor would have told him that the test result may not be so & He would have had to go for multiple tests - and when test result after test result would have come back positive throughout 1986, perhaps Freddie didn't want to hear it again. Perhaps that is why Mary Austin says she received a call from his GP telling her that Freddie wasn't returning his calls and to tell Freddie to call back him? (Do you recall a tabloid story in The Sun (sept 1986) alleging that Freddie had recently taken an AIDS test and Freddie angrily responding: Does it look like I'm Dying?) Early 1987, coincidentally, saw the development of a newer and more reliable HIV test called the Western Blot. It was a much more accurate test than the ELISA.

My hypothesis is that Freddie was probably alerted to his HIV status a year and a half earlier in 1985. He had gone for test after test throughout 1986 and finally, in the Spring of 1987, along with a lymphnode b Posted: 03 Oct 11, 06:14 Thanks for this thread btw. All i can say is that when i was at the Knebworth gig i noticed something different about Freddie.Couldnt put my finger on it tho.You see,when i used to go to gigs,i liked to be as close to the stage as i can get.So that i can see the band with my own two eyes.Rather than look at a screen or whatever.I have been that close in the past that i have been hit in the face with Roger's sweat at one of his The Cross gigs.I have also been hit in the face with one of Freddie's towels during the Hot Space tour. I just remember looking at Freddie during the Knebworth gig and thinking"There's something wrong with you".It wasnt what he was doing onstage.Cos that was fine.It was something in the way he looked.

I never forget a face, but in your case i'll be glad to make an exception-Groucho Marx Freddie Mercury, 45, Lead Singer Of the Rock Band Queen, Is Dead - NYTimes.com Freddie Mercury, 45, Lead Singer Of the Rock Band Queen, Is Dead Published: November 25, 1991 LONDON, Nov. 24— Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the hard-rock group Queen, died today at his home in Kensington here. He was 45 years old. He died of bronchopneumonia resulting from AIDS, his publicity agent said. Mr. Mercury announced on Saturday that he had AIDS. As the lead singer and lyricist for Queen, Mr. Mercury helped to forge a hugely popular hybrid of hard-rock, pop, heavy-metal, cabaret and a hint of opera. In its mid-1970's heyday, the group created an image of playful decadence while fabricating elaborate studio productions on its albums, overdubbing multiple guitar and vocal lines. Mr. Mercury strutted and preened, by turns campy and almost militaristic, at the center of Queen's stage shows.

A Group's Glory Days In one of Queen's definitive hits, "Bohemian Rhapsody," Mr. Mercury overdubbed his voice until it became a choir, with words like "Mama mia," "Galileo" and "Figaro" bouncing up and down the octaves. But he also sang dramatic solo vocals in hits like the ballad "We Are the Champions" and the mock-rockabilly song "Crazy Little Thing Called Love." Queen thrived commercially from 1975, when "Killer Queen" appeared, to 1980, when the disco-style "Another One Bites the Dust" reached No. 1 on the pop-singles chart. Although Queen's commercial success waned in the 1980's, it was partly vindicated when the hook from "Under Pressure," its collaboration with David Bowie in 1982, was borrowed by the rapper Vanilla Ice for his hit single "Ice, Ice Baby." From Zanzibar to the World Stage He was one of a number of celebrities who had announced that they suffered from AIDS to try to increase the public's awareness of the disease. In a statement on the eve of his death, Mr.

Mercury called on his fans around the world to join the fight against AIDS. Mr. Mercury, whose name was originally Frederick Bulsara, was born in Zanzibar, the son of a Government accountant. He rose to fame as the bravura singer for Queen, whose elaborate and occasionally bombastic songs made the group one of the most popular in the 1970's. In addition to recording with Queen, Mr. Mercury later released solo albums, including "The Great Pretender." In recent years, he lived a secluded life and resisted responding to persistent rumors that he had AIDS. "I felt it correct to keep this information private to date in order to protect the privacy of those around me," Mr. Mercury said in a statement on Saturday. "However, the time has now come for my friends and fans around the world to know the truth, and I hope that everyone will join with me, my doctors and all those worldwide in the fight against this terrible disease." A private cremation is to be held this week.

Photo: Freddie Mercury (Agence France-Presse) Queen star dies after Aids statement | 1990-1999 | Guardian Century Queen star dies after Aids statement Monday 25 November 1991 guardian.co.uk Freddie Mercury, rock's showman incarnate, died last night, 24 hours after he confirmed he was suffering from Aids. Mercury, lead singer with the band Queen, had become a recluse at his home in Kensington, west London, over the past two years, fuelling speculation that he was suffering from the disease. He was 45. A brief statement by his publicist, Roxy Meades, said: "Freddie Mercury died peacefully at his home. His death was the result of bronchio-pneumonia, brought on by Aids." Mercury was born Frederick Bulsara in Zanzibar, the son of a Government accountant. He attended Ealing College of Art, then joined Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor to form Queen in 1971. Their debut album was Queen in 1973, followed by Queen II a year later, with a single Seven Seas of Rhye, which made the UK charts.

The Sheer Heart Attack album gave them a big hit with Killer Queen. But it was A Night at the Opera which furnished them with a number one hit in the seven-minute Bohemian Rhapsody, which anticipated the pop-video boom of the eighties by being one of the first pop records to be marketed with a promotional film. Its overblown operatic tones and melodramatic tempo changes came to epitomise the style lampooned by rock critics as pomp rock. Queen's Greatest Hits remains one of the biggest sellers in rock history. Singles such as We Are the Champions (employed by the Labour Party at its conference this year), and Crazy Little Thing Called Love, plus Mercury's solo efforts such as The Great Pretender, were all hits. The band played stadium concerts to six-figure audiences all over the world, with the theatrical Mercury centre-stage. For nearly 20 years he was one of the most flamboyant figures on the British rock scene, once appearing with 50 sets of false bosoms as he sang I Want To Break Free. His after-show parties went on for days and were legendary among those who retained any recollection of them.

As questions were asked about his health, he adopted a more sedate lifestyle, which he insisted was more the real Freddie Mercury. He said, "I'm so powerful on stage that I seem to have created a monster. When I'm performing I'm an extrovert, yet inside I'm a completely different man." On Saturday, Mercury issued a statement saying, "Following enormous conjecture in the press, I wish to confirm that I have been tested HIV positive and have Aids. I felt it correct to keep this information private in order to protect the privacy of those around me. "However, the time has now come for my friends and fans around the world to know the truth, and I hope everyone will join with me, my doctors and all those worldwide in the fight against this terrible disease." Freddie Mercury, HIV, AIDS and cutting edge treatments | The CureTalks Blog Celebrities May 31, 2011 0 Comment Freddie Mercury, HIV, AIDS and cutting edge treatments Freddie Mercury Freddie Mercury was a profoundly influential singer most known for being the front-man of Queen. Queen was a British rock band that formed in 1971. They have released 18 albums and have 18 hit singles.

Queen was induced into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. They have altered music forever, and Freddie will continue to inspire singers for years to come. Freddie Mercury (his real name was Farrokh Bulsara), was born in Zanzibar and grew up in Southern Gujurat and Mumbai (what is now Bombay). In 1964, when Freddie was 17, he and his family moved to England. It was there that Mercury met his to-be band mates. Although flamboyant on stage, Mercury was very private, granted few interviews and was protective about his life style. It was only after his death that we now know much about how he lived. Freddie contracted AIDS in 1987, although he did not go public with this information until 1 day before he died on November 24th, 1991. Freddie Mercury is a symbol for freedom, creative expression and rocking music in general. Even after his death, his image and legacy has helped raised hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars for HIV and AIDS research. The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert held in 1992 raised hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars.

This money was then used to launch the Mercury Phoenix Trust . Here is a quote from the site: Since 1992 the Mercury Phoenix Trust has been responsible for donating more than $15 million in the fight against AIDS making over 750 grants to charities worldwide. HIV and AIDS cutting edge treatments HIV and AIDS treatments have improved but there is still no cure. This June will mark the 30 year anniversary of the discovery of what we know as AIDS so I am pleased to report on the following promising treatments in the pipe line. Researchers at Brigham and Young University have been developing a cure for AIDS for many years now. It is called CSA-54 and is still in early phase testing. A pharmaceutical company named Ceragenix Pharmaceuticals sponsored the research however that company is now bankrupt. Many prominent AIDS researchers are anxiously awaiting the outcomes of these studies. It is mysterious why the research on this drug has been delayed for so long. I may write a blog about this in the future. Back in 2007, a man with Leukemia and AIDS received a stem cell transplant with cells from an HIV immune donor. That man no longer has Leukemia and has been effectively cured from AIDS .

Sutherlandia frutescens also called the balloon vine has long since thought to have anti cancer and anti HIV/AIDS properties. There are not a lot of clinical research studies that have been performed on this plant but there is a great deal on the internet. Read with cautions optimism. Lastly, I have provided a listing of HIV/AIDS clinical trials. Please see the listing below: [LIST_TRIALS condition=”AIDS”]

Question: In which year did Freddie Mercury die of AIDS?
Answer: 1991